Various entities may create or control media universes that encompass fictional worlds. Broadly speaking, a fictional world is a (generally) self-consistent setting for works of fiction. Broad categories of fictional worlds may include, but are not limited to, fictionalized versions of the real world, alternate history or alternative reality universes, science fiction universes, and fantasy worlds. A fictional world may be based on one or more works in various media including but not limited to books, short stories, comic books, graphic novels, movies, shows or series distributed via various channels (e.g., television, cable, or web series), cartoons, anime, games, and toys. In addition, new works in various media including but not limited to books, short stories, comic books, graphic novels, movies, shows or series, cartoons, anime, games, and toys may be specifically created with content or storylines set within an existing fictional world.
A fictional world may include its own histories, storylines, environments, locations, civilizations, characters, objects, technologies, flora, fauna, languages, rules, and so on. In many fictional worlds, there is an accepted collection of media, storylines, histories, characters, objects, locations and so on that may be viewed as the canonical content (or canon) of the world. New works may follow the canon to maintain continuity within the world, and may extend the canon with new storylines, characters, and so on. In addition, there may be other non-canonical content (e.g., “fan fiction”) based on or set within the fictional world. The collection of all media and other canonical and non-canonical content for a fictional world may be referred to as a media universe.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include”, “including”, and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.